WAAAYTOOO

My husband and I are travelling on Anthem of the Seas in 8 days!!!  July 15th. I can't wait.  This is our first cruise.

This is, at the same time, both fascinating and revolting...kinda like rubbernecking at an auto accident, I guess.
Actually, I think I do recall that there is one of these vendors in Coz but I know no details.  Not sure I would have the stomach to do it.
My feet are super ticklish too but I have learned to accommodate with pedicures.  I DO love a good foot massage !!

My grandmother took the whole extended family out on a cruise 16 years ago, I was surprised to find that I still got credit for those cruise points all this time later!  It might not help your point balance, but it's something they can use and appreciate far into the future.

Can't thank you all enough for the responses and help. Decided to go with Oasis of the Seas in March 2018. We'll be stopping in philipsburg, st. Maarten,,San juan Puerto Rico, and labadee, Haiti. It looks like a great ship.
Now to look at excursions and dining options which I'm sure will bring more questions to the table haha. Thanks again for all the help everyone. 

You can definitely schedule your My Time Dining reservations before you sail.  I strongly recommend that you do - especially if you plan on eating during "the rush" (6:00 - 7:30). That doesn't mean that you can't change your mind once you get onboard and do something else, but at least you will have the time you want reserved beforehand.
We always eat at the earliest possible time (usually 5:30) b/c they haven't had time to get behind yet and there are usually LOTS of empty tables around, that early.

I'm loving your film quotes  lets hope they don't call it Orca as we can see in your pic above what happened to that boat but i guess even sharks will do anything to get some Honeystung Chicken 

Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending upon your point of view), the unique dining venues (The Grande, Chic and Silk), originally intended to be stand-alone restaurants with unique menus, are now just different seating areas with no unique food choices at all.  This was due to the fact that the Quantum class ships were originally designed to have Dynamic Dining which fizzled for a number of reasons.
So....while these 3 restaurants still have different names (I wonder at the decision to leave these different names in place) they are really just different decks of the same, big restaurant.  One or two of these levels will be strictly traditional dining while one or two of them will be strictly My Time Dining.  I have never been on a Q class so I'm not sure which decks are which but since you will be MTD you will be eating in the same restaurant on the same deck every night.  I'm not sure which of the 3 it will be, but your deck number will not change and they do not have the ability to "mix" the traditional and MTD options.

Nobody knows expensive bingo until they go on a Disney cruise 

Nope, but I can see schedules and fares up to 11 months from today.  Don't need a crystal ball to know airfares and schedules are only going to get worse.  Most I can live with.  

I've read some people who have complained about all the hand sanitizer stations they have aboard cruise ships. That some how that's a sign that they are dirty and unclean and that's why there are "outbreaks" of illness on board. How about the fact that those germs are being brought onboard by passengers and that's the reason for all the stations. If everybody used them, at least for the first few days on board, it would benefit everyone. It only takes one person to infect everyone.

On the Voyager class the seats outside never seem to get any sun and the wind always whips through as the ship is moving. Not very nice at all for al fresco dining.
Maybe the the sun is on the wrong side in the Southern Hemisphere ?

It also makes a big difference which ship class you are on.  The JR on the O class has a much bigger capacity (with the outside seating) than the Voyager Class does.  Even though they have outdoor seating on the V class, it's not nearly as comfortable as the indoor seating and I don't ever see it being used that much.

I'm with you, Brian.  I prefer Western to Eastern unless I'm in the market for jewelry.  In that case, there is no better port than St. Thomas.  Otherwise, the Eastern Caribbean isn't of much interest to me.

I agree, Jane.  I would probably wait and do the All Access Tour on another ship if you are already going to get a galley tour on NAV.  When we did the AAT it included a lot of [galley] stuff that your Chef's Table tour is probably not going to give you BUT it won't be that big a difference.  Why get the galley tour twice ?  I would probably wait until I was on another ship to do the AAT.

Advice:  Do not wait until the last sea day to do JR.  We were on NAV for Christmas last year and made that mistake.  HUGE line and it nearly came to fisticuffs when a lady thought she was being dissed by the gent who was trying to organize the waiting list.

There is no reason why you can't board before noon.  The boarding times that they "assign" to you is just their attempt at controlling the onboarding crowd.  They will not deny you boarding if you get there before noon.
Generally, 10:30 AM is about the earliest that they will actually start boarding but you might as well get on the ship as early as you can and start enjoying your vacation !  Rooms are likely not ready until at least 1PM so you will have to haul carry-ons around but everyone is in the same "boat" (see what I did there ???) so you just pull them around with you for a while but hey - you're on a cruise ship - nothing can be THAT bad !

Tampa, FL, 21 years old and you don't think you're in a "sweet spot". Son, some of these senior cruisers will probably beat the hell out of you with their walking canes, drink straws or challenge you to an arm wrestling contest if they ever meet you on a cruise. By the way, when is your next cruise? 

Yes, you can.  When you go out of the port, turn right and head to the old fortress area.  In Curacao they have done something that we, in the US, would NEVER do.  They took the old fortress "ruins" and renovated them into shops, restaurants, even a casino.  It is SOOO quaint.  Just keep walking through that area and eventually you will come to the floating bridge that will lead you into the downtown area.  It is all very walkable and very friendly.  On the city side of the floating bridge is where you will find the tuk tuk station.  They will drive you around town and tell you about the area.  It's a very interesting place.  Lots of cultural merging.  Just a lovely place, all around.

They're sneaky.  The advertised price in the Cruise Planner ALREADY has the discount included....so they don't really show you the "full" price.

It could be worse.  You could have CDOPV (Compulsive Disorder for Obsessive Planning of Vacations) which is the same disease but in proper alphabetical order!

I live in Chicago also. I will get up and check Southwest in the middle of the night. I have several flights to Tampa and Ft. Lauderdale. I have purchased my holiday tickets to Tampa roundtrip at 250 per person.

I actually liked the food at Johnny rockets.  The fries and onion rings were great and the burger was cooked well.   I think after a week of eating steak and other more gourmet fare,  i was ready to slum it and eat a burger.   It was also an easy place to finally meet up with my 13 year old and grab a late lunch that wasn't buffet food.   Jane

We over planners never get any respect...

You can rest easy, I'm not. I just have OCVPD.(obsessive compulsive vacation planning disorder)

I think there are rules saying you have to be 50+ to use that line...